9-1-1 Communications

St. Lucie County Public Safety and Communications, Division of 911, is located at the Douglas M. Anderson Emergency Operations Center at 15305 W. Midway Road in Ft. Pierce. The primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for all of St. Lucie County is located within this building. The secondary PSAP is located off site which operates as a back up to the primary PSAP. All 911 calls for Law Enforcement and Fire/Rescue for the entire county are received through the primary PSAP. Call takers assess the incoming calls to determine if Law Enforcement or Fire/Rescue is needed. If Fire/Rescue is needed, the caller is transferred in house to certified Fire District Telecommunicators who provide Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD) and dispatch their equipment accordingly. Law Enforcement dispatching is provided to the Fort Pierce Police Department, Port Saint Lucie Police Department, and St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. Over 488,000 calls for service are dispatched annually. The staff operates on a rotating shift work schedule. The Division of 911 employees is certified through the Association of Professional Communications Officers (APCO) and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). They also retain a certification through the Florida Department of Health (DOH) as a 911 Emergency Dispatcher. The in house training program runs for twelve weeks and is also certified through DOH.

Text to 911

St. Lucie County’s 911 call center, which handles all emergency calls for law enforcement and fire rescue services within the county, now accepts text messages to 911.

Cellphone users texting 911 should be prepared to answer two important questions when texting 911: (1) What is the address or location of the emergency? (2) What is the emergency or problem

When making a text to 911 call, remember to be brief and concise, text in plain words and avoid using abbreviations. Photos and videos cannot be sent to 911. Residents are reminded to never text and drive

Voice calls to 911 are usually the most efficient way to reach emergency help. For example, voice calls allow the 911 operator to more quickly ask questions and obtain information from the caller, while two-way communication by text can take more time and is subject to limits on the length of text messages. In addition, when you make a voice call to 911, the call taker will typically receive your phone number and the approximate location of your phone automatically.

While this is a significant enhancement to the current 911 system, users are cautioned that there may be some limitations to using this service such as a message delay; no guarantee of delivery and accuracy of the location. Text information may not be as reliable as it would be with a phone call to 911. Additionally, the coverage area of a wireless provider may impede messaging